A Hybrid Shoot In America’s Heartland for Case Tractor

Three weeks ago I was selected as the director for a national commercial campaign for Case Tractors. It would be my first solo directing gig after signing with the Bandito Brothers one month ago. In the commercial world, an advertising agency is hired by the client, which in this instance is Case Tractors. They are contracted to come up with the commercial concept and once approved the Ad agency approaches different production companies with a roster of directors that match the concept idea of the spot.

Assembling the correct team is critical, so I called on four of my Elite Team members; Mike Svitak and Darin Necessary camera operators extraordinaire, Dave Knudsen the rigging guru and Julien Lasseur, HV intern who is in training to manage media.

(Top Left) Mikey and Shane discuss a shot. (Top Right) Mikey lensing up the macro wheat kernel. (Bottom Left) Mikey goes for higher ground to get the right shot. (Bottom Right) Mikey on the 300mm Canon.

I brought Mikey Svitak in 3 days early to get DP experience. His mission was to gather a variety of shots and the results were truly beautiful, well composed and perfectly exposed. Thanks Mikey!!

Bobby runs the set.

To pull off this very ambitious one day shoot, I needed the right Elite Team producer and Assistant Director who were Greg Haggart and Bobby Phillips, respectively. Greg had produced “Act of Valor” and “The Last 3 Minutes.” He has an amazing ability to stretch the budget and put everything on the screen. Bobby was the AD on “Act of Valor” and the Navy Swimmer Spots; both are filmmakers through and through.

Greg Haggart, Producer

To keep our shoot compact and nibble, we turned to the Canon 5D Mark II. I knew we needed a lot of coverage when the weather was just right as it was tornado season and they are very unpredictable. Our vision was for the spot to be golden and beautiful and we did not have the budget to shoot all of those moments on film. The film was saved for slow-motion coverage of the wheat field and the combine harvesting so that it looked elegant and fluid.

Grabbing a macro CU of the wheat with Canon 100mm Macro.

This would juxtapose the stock footage that was time lapse shots all over the world of growing population and traffic. The stock footage was gathered by Voyager creative and I had the job of sifting through a thousand select shots to find those 4 to 6 hero moments that delivered the creative impact. Once they were found I started to create images of the combine harvesting that would match the moment and flow of the stock shots. I wanted them to be woven through the spot like a tapestry, not just cut together in one clump. The feel had to be seamless showing that as the farmer harvests so does he feed and fuel the world. The concept was following one kernel of wheat that we see in the beginning.

300mm Canon in field.

We had to think creatively to budget this one day shoot. Instead of shooting one long day, we divided into 5 days because it was harvesting time and we had to be very respectful of the farmers that were letting us into their world and giving us the opportunity to film these beautiful machines. To pull this spot off we would have to put into action what we did on the Navy Swimmer spots where we shot it as a play in real time capture. I knew I could ask the farmer to do a few shots that were more like camera set ups but most of it had to be done without impacting his daily operation. I felt that impacting him a little each day would be a far better approach than one long day where we would have to shut everything down. Small and mobile were our catch phrases to move where ever he was harvesting. By the time I reached Oklahoma to location scout, 3/4‘s of the fields that I had selected had already been harvested. The weather was right and they had to go; they were not going to wait just for a commercial. So capturing it in real time was our only option.

Shane discusses shot with Bobby and Darin.

As a director/cameraman, it is critical to pick the correct tools for the job. I felt the 5D was a perfect for getting in there and we also rigged a 7D to a piece of speedrail to get a slow-motion shot of grain coming out of the auger from the combine. A 24mm Canon L series was mounted and wrapped it in a ziploc bag, blasted and let free fall into the bed of the truck. We rigged 5D’s and 7D’s in several tight and unique angles to deliver the elegance of the machine. We rigged one in the thrashing reel mechanism. The camera spun around in circles as the grain was cut.

Chapman Hydro Scope gets us in there.

Film was used on a telescopic crane mounted to a camera car that could track along with the combine and stay out its way. The crane we used because of all of the dust was the Chapman Hydroscope. You can completely submerge the whole crane and the head and at the end the of the shoot day the technician’s just needed to hose it off. So, here is how it played out. We rigged 5D’s on the combine in very tight interesting spaces in the morning before they headed out to the field. This was done over 2 days to lessen the impact. Then on the big shoot day we used the 5D’s again with the farmer in the field in the morning and then hopped on the camera car in the afternoon when the light was lower and rocked out stunning shots of 4 combines harvesting wheat.

Chapman Hydro Scope in action on Camera Car.

Our big shoot day had a crew of 20 members. Our 4 other shoot days were done with 4 crew members. Small footprint, BIG VISION.

Case had given us 4 different farmers to talk and we needed to find the right Custom farming team. Farming has changed over the years, so now the person who owns the land doesn’t harvest his crops. He pays custom farmers, called “cutters” to come in and do this work. We worked with the cutters.

I met Rick Ferris who has been a custom farmer for over 50 years. He starts in Oklahoma and makes his way all the way to Montana by mid December harvesting all sorts of crops. He had done some BBC documentaries in the 90‘s and hired foreign exchange students from Ohio State to help in his business. When I heard that I knew he was the guy. He was an educator and could explain what he does day in and day out and would also understand what we were trying to do.

I grew up on a 250 acre farm as a child and I have to say it was probably the best training I could have ever have for cinematography. I watched my Dad use common sense, think quickly on his feet and be able to fix anything.

Combines harvesting into the sunset.

He was a genius. There was not much he could not weld, cut, rig, or mickey mouse together if we did not have the money for that specific part. He had to react quickly to whatever mother nature threw at him. I learned from one of the best about how to use this life experience to my advantage as an artist.

Pole cam.

For example, I needed a aerial shot. The budget was $140,000.00 total which we had divided into 5 days. On average, a normal commercial shoot day costs at least $180,000.00, depending on the concept. How do you do this aerial with no money? Enter the CDC (crop dusting cam.) Darin Necessary’s son is a pilot who knew a friend that he went to school with in Dallas that was also a pilot. We had him rent a plane, which gave

Pole cam before dump.

him flying hours along with getting us this amazing top down shot at 500 feet of the combines at sunset, with their long shadows moving across the field and the dust being side lit. It was awesome.

We rigged a Canon L series 24mm lens straight down just outside the window on the wing strut. We rigged a Canon L series 35mm right next to it and then a Canon 50mm L series on the landing gear. A few hose clamps from a automotive store, some tape, 1/4

Pole cam in a waterfall of wheat.

20 baby pins and some rigging ingenuity by Dave Knudsen and Darin Necessary and we were off. This shot cost approximately $700.00 total. If we had rented a helicopter and a gyro stabilized head it would have been over $7,000.00. That is why I love Greg Haggart. He saw that shot on my boards and made in happen when I thought it wouldn’t be possible. The tricky thing though was to rig the cameras so that I could reach them out the small window in the Cessna. When I got in the co-pilot’s seat,

Harvestor Cam.

I realized that I needed a specific tool to assist me in this endeavor. It was the 5/16 inch allen T-wrench that would give me the added length to my arm and also be able to grab the gears on the back exposure wheel to change the stops as the light changed, as well as turning the cameras on and off to save batteries and hit the record button. We had one fancy on/off switch but we went for old school, less to fail once we were airborne. It worked perfectly. I had a 6.5 inch Marshall monitor with an Anton Bauer battery back to gauge my exposures. I ran 3 different BNC cables from the cameras to the cockpit.

Dave puts the 5D in tight spaces.

Then I would insert the different camera cables into the monitor to check the exposures and to make sure they were recording. It was difficult to see the flashing red light with the sun blinding me up there. Now, this all worked great on the ground because I could reach and turn every knob and button.

CDC pulling out, on its maiden voyage.

Crop duster cam rig.

Once in flight it was a different story and I had no idea how powerful the windspeed would be. Chad the pilot said he could get our speed down to 50mph. I had put my hand outside a car going 50 before so I thought it won’t be bad. Well, I had to use all of my strength to stretch out and reach the controls. Just when I would get ready to hit the record button a gust of wind would come and blow my arm back. It was difficult but the images speak for themselves.

Darin rigs the Canon 50mm L series to the landing gear.

One thing we knew would exist is some harmonic vibration, so we would have to stabilize in post, along with image sharpening. I have to say, the 24mm Canon did not resolve the way that I hoped, so in the future I will try the 21mm Zeiss to assist in this CDC approach. Another mistake I made was my guessing about the tilt down on the two longer lens cameras, the 35 and the 50mm. I thought they needed about a 15 degree tilt up. I got the shot but 2 seconds was all I needed. Hindsight being 20/20 I would have rigged all of them to the body of the plane with some rubber rigging pad to take out the vibration. Lesson learned. I’ve never done anything like this before.

Aerial Shot with 3-5D’s 24mm L series from 400 feet

Julien operates the 500mm Canon.

Shooting with the old Kowa glass was also a first for me. I had tested the lenses but not with sunsets and the gorgeous fields that we had to work with. One word. WOW!! Their flare and contrast ranges were beautiful; warm and slightly muted. I felt it fit the spot perfectly. I shot the farmer with these and the opening sequence, then match the look in our color suite with the other cinema primes and Canon glass we used.

75mm Vintage Kowa Lens.

Kowa and combines.

We kept on thinking out of the box with our camera moves with our very limited resources on the first 3 days. How can you dolly the camera over some railroad tracks? Enter the CamRail system from London. This worked very well even with the heavier cinema primes. It pinched the dolly mechanism a bit but it made for a very smooth move with all that resistance. Oh no!! No wedges or apple boxes, well 2 Pelican cases and some 4X5 WW IR ND’s will work perfect for wedges. I love this platform and its liberating spirit. Remember, it is not the camera, but the person behind it. What have you done with less? How have you made your creative vision shine.

Elvis Ripley, Thank you so much, it was suppose to be a campaign but Case only wanted one out of three. They should air very soon and I will post my Director’s cut on Vimeo for all of you to check out.

Shane,
All of your articles are so informative and great to read. I just recently hopped on the 5D ride, and you are the first place I turn to for information. You are an invaluable asset and much under-appreciated by the film making world as a whole.

I’m in love with my 5D and my Canon L glass. Just need to find a good lightweight handheld rig.

Hey Shane.. I appreciate the time and effort you continue to put into your blog – it makes for great, informative and interesting reading. Also, very good to hear that you’ve stepped into the directing arena! – I’m a (sometimes) TVC director too (although I feel I’m really a frustrated wannabe cinematographer) – looking forward to the day I can convince a client to shoot on a DSLR – I dearly love film, but these new cameras, even with their drawbacks, are liberating tools for releasing creativity, as your article beautifully illustrates. I feel the agencies are becoming more conducive to the idea shooting this way (at least here in England), ALL the cinematographers I have worked with recently own 5Ds and love them, and I think, secretly wish they could shoot on them. However, clients are still a little wary of the idea and feel more comfortable going with the traditional route. You and others like you (the people who film ‘House’ for example – Gale Tattersall?) are making it easier to convince them and are forging the path ahead for the rest of us! Keep it up, Shane!

Stephen, WOW!!, thank you for all those kind words. That is unfortunate. I love the freedom and liberating qualities that this tool delivers. I have great success with convincing them. It will come. When they see that whatever they dream up is possible now because of this tool, they will make the exodus. I won’t stop.

Hi Shane..I really appreciate these insights to a shoot.
You are the only one out there that is actually using these cameras and sharing real world problems and there solutions.
I would like to echo a comment made on a previous post of yours, it would be great if you could find the time to produce a masterclass series. You have a natural teaching style that cuts the crap and tells it like it is

Karl Jull, well, thank you so much for your kind words, I make mistakes daily, I pick myself up and pass that on to all of you so that you do not make the soma ones. The master class is up. Go to hdslrbootcamp.com. August 28 and 29 will be the most intensive, hands on, in depth 5D course you have ever seen. Bring it on, and join the REVOLUTION.

another great write up. I would be very interested to see the final spot when its completed. Showing how to realize your vision without the millions of dollars in budget is inspiring and shows that “it is not the camera, but the person behind it”.

Again, thanks soo much for taking time out of your day to share your knowledge and stories with us.

mel haynes jr, thank you for those kind words, yes it is a great tool but you have to know what you are doing. You are very welcome and thank you for your support. Spot will be coming once I finish the edit.

Before, I have to thanks for all your wise answers to my last questions, the really brightened my way to HDSLR.

After reading and enjoying your article about lenses for HDSLR, I have circled around old photography equipment stores and found a treasure of old Leica R lenses which are priced from $300 to $1200. I have tested them using an adapter on my 5D2 and found they are still clear and clean. now, what do you think, am I on the right track, I mean investing on old (maybe 20 years old) Leica lenses for HDSLR film making? in your article, you compared Leica with Panavision! (“They felt the closest to the Panavision Primo primes”), was it for their new lenses? or works for these old stuffs? do they breathe while focus pulling? what about their contrast?

with some more efforts I might be able to invest on Canon glass L lenses, I’m confused to do what? wait for Canon or experience Leica R lenses? and a final question: in the series of old Leica lenses, which lenses you think are the best?

Thanks again Shane, those realy are the big fun shoots. I know what you mean about the Zeiss lenses, I just bought a couple of them myself and they realy stand out from the Canon lenses. The image already looks nicer on the camera screen. Still have some problems with the adapter rings though, they all seem to have a lot of play connecting to the camera body.
Can’t wait to see the final result.

Thanks again for another very educational post! Your blog is a huge inspiration.
You asked how we’ve done more with less… I recently shot a video for a local car dealership that was supposed to serve two purposes – lead up to a speech by one of the owners of the company and get the sales team excited about cars (and selling them). The idea I had was similar to a Shell/Ferrari ad I had seen, but I wanted to use the American made Corvette ZR1 I had seen parked outside the company’s building. We used the 5D pretty much naked. Either it was suction mounted to the car with a rented Canon 20mm 2.8 or 17-35 2.8L, on the Pocket Dolly with the Canon 70-200 2.8 IS or handheld with the 70-200. The shots back toward the car were done with me lying on the floor of a van with the tailgate open with the 70-200, focusing on the barrel… with seatbelts tied around my ankles. Without the 5D getting the look I was going for wouldn’t have been within our reach. Plus I was able to get a lot of setups in very little time as a one man crew for most of the time. The camera even let me shoot interiors curled up in the Corvette’s tiny trunk.
Here’s the video:http://vimeo.com/11537907
I know the video is no masterpiece, but it gets me excited just to know that I was able to make this concept happen at all. And a big reason this shoot happened was thanks to all of the great insight and passion you share in this blog.
Thanks Shane!

Eric Diosay, I have many of Illya’s rigs from Hot Rod, they work great. I like your rig. Sweet with the monitor back there. Try putting a handle near the back right rod and then one forward of the camera on the left. See if you feel a little more stable.

Nice working with you Shane, I think you’ve inspired me to get back into photography a bit. Might even get a 5D soon, I wish I had more time to spend with you guys to pick your brains a bit more. Call me if you need another aerial in the Texas area.

Chad, thank you so much for your kind words and support. You should see your Crop Duster Cam shot, it is amazing. It is in the spot. I will post it soon once the edit is done so that you can see your brilliant flying.

You already know what I’m gonna say … so I’m just gonna keep quiet, for a change—plus, I’d only be echoing what others have said. Cheers, everyone!
:-)

I will say this, however: if the stills are any indication of what the finished spot will look like …
Can’t wait to see it.

As always, thank you so much for all the time, dedication, and effort you put into these posts—this one was especially informative, what with so many different rigs and lenses to cover. I got winded just reading the dern thing!

Hey Shane…Awesome shoot…looks like a blast. I just finished a 12 day feature I shot with my 7d’s. Went amazingly well…should have footage available soon to show.
BTW, are those Panavision lenses I see on your cameras? Shhh…I thought the boys in Woodland Hills melted all those mounts down? What’s the skinny?
Ken Glassing

Bill Walsh, all of the Kowa’s that I know are either PL or PV mounts, so your camera would need to be modified if you went PL, they might be someone that could modify them to EOS mount, like Duclos. Not sure, have not gone down that road yet.

ChrisAlbert, Thank you for your kind words Chris. I found that on our small Cessna aircraft the engine vibrating blurred every other frame on the 5D. If I was to do it again I would have tried to isolate the camera from the landing gear and the wing struts that I mounted the cameras to, maybe using some rubber dampening. Not sure because there is not a manual for this stuff. I do have to say that, that in post we pulled out all the blurred frames and then used Twixtor to duplicate the ones that we pulled out and it looked spectacular. We used the Doggicam 5/8 inch 5D rigging kit and some baby pins w/ 1/4 2″ screws that we put in the bottom of the cameras and also in the hot shoe. If I was going to do this again I probably would have mounted the cameras in ViewFactors Exoskeleton cage. It gives you more mounting places. One thing that you have to make sure that you do is mount several cameras. I mounted 3 cameras but probably should have mounted 5. I would have done 2 straight down, then 2 pointed down at about a 20 degree angle and then one at a 45 degree angle. 24mm seemed very nice at 400 feet. Please refer to the blog, I am inserting a still shot from the aerial 5D crop duster cam.

I mean I really do, it is so great to visit this super entertaining, illustrative and edifying site thank you so much for this super info you share with all of us your reall fans since the last three minutes short film.

Shane, Thanks for the fantastic (and detailed!) write up. I was wondering for the aerials, would you ever consider shooting at a faster shutter speed (1/100, maybe 1/200) to minimize the blurred frames from the vibrations? I know it can create a more staccato kind of look, but I imagine you are far enough from your subject in this case that they (the harvesters) slowly drift through the frame? Just curious on your take on breaking the 180 rule for certain circumstances.
Thanks, Dave

Dave Elkins…
A faster shutter speed will show the effects of the rolling shutter more, so be careful here. I’ve had motorcycle mount shots we did on csi miami ruined becuase of this vibration effect. Shooting at 1/30th second will reduce the rolling shutter “jello” effect as much as possible, but will not eliminate it.
Best Regards…
Ken Glassing
BTW, I was a student of yours once upon a time!

Maybe it’s premature to ask but do you have any idea when ‘Act of Valor’ might be out? I’m assuming it will have general distribution, or is it going to be a limited number of cinemas?

Additionally, do you have any comments on the season finale of House? I’m particularly interested in grading. You often mention how it is important to get the look in the camera, i wonder how much was done in camera (i’m presuming the large majority. It just seemed the footage to me was ‘enhanced’ and i wonder by how much in the grade and what techniques might have been used).

It would be interesting to see any of your work pre/post grade, or perhaps if you would be able to draw light on what you did for the case tractor spot?

One more thing. Over the experience you’ve gained over the last year or so, it would be interesting to see what you’re no no’s are on set in regards to aliasing/moire. How do you liase with the set designer/costume/location scout in regards to this matter?

Sorry, that’s rather a lot!, but maybe these questions will be on the back-burner in your mind for future posts.

Tony, I have used a similar remote helicopter and you are always shooting the props in the top of your frame and also dealing with the vibration issue. They are great for panoramic city shots, but put to the test in action where you want to attack the on coming car or high speed boat, they fall short every time.

Hi Shane,
thanks for sharing your techniques!! I was very interested in the aerials you did here. I have been developing small mounts for Cessna’s for some time now and have had mixed results with the 5D. I am just working on a mount to look vertically down like you had. I really liked the creative way you got rid of the vibration in post. I have had that kind of vibration in many tests I had shot in the development of the mounts. I am very close to getting rid of all vibration. ALso, the vibration seems to really screw up the compression – http://vimeo.com/7513091 – but getting rid of the vibration gets you closer -http://vimeo.com/13137302 :-)
Frame rate seems to play a big issue as well – 24p and you get rolling shutter – 30p and you get vibration blur.
Let me know if you ever need a airplane mount that will fit in your camera case and hopefully I will have one for you!!
thanks,
Nigel

Nigel Ellis, You are so welcome and thank you for all of your great insight and information on this. I would love to have one of those mounts sent to my HDLSR Bootcamp to educate all of these filmmakers on this. It is on Aug. 28-29. Thoughts?

Hi Shane, it would be great to get you some for the boot camp. Let me work on the prototypes a bit more this week as I would like to get them 100% if possible. Cheers and thanks a gain for a great site, Nigel

Nigel Ellis, that is awesome. The Elite team and I look forward to seeing this baby. I imagine it is better than a couple hose clamps from Walmart automotive and a baby spud, Ha Ha :) Thanks for the kudos!!

Paul Reuter, hey Paul, unfortunately it is a fact of life. With the sensor only reading every other line this is what we get. You just have to watch out for tight patterns and don’t expose the cons of this camera. That is what I have been trying to do. Know its limitations and do not expose them.

I wasn’t really thinking you’d be able to pull a rabbit out of a hat… just hoping. My clients are over the Moon with the footage I have delivered so I am carrying on. The Harvest stuff you’ve posted on the sight look amazing. Hope we run in to each other soon.

Will be shooting a glider. Not as practical as Darin :) What would you/he suggest in terms of grip to secure it? Want to look ahead and down( and not lose it!) There are no struts on this plane. Thanks.

Larry McMahon, We used hose clamps that attached to a piece of steel that had a screw coming out of it, that we then threaded a baby pin onto and rigged the rest with grip heads and c-stand arms. I would have to look at pictures and have Dave my Elite Team Key Grip take a look at it.

To achieve a slide across an entire bar, we once took a tripod head, a jorgensen wood clamp, and a couple boa bags, put it all on top of a thin cloth, smoothed down the bar, and after about 3 takes, we a had a perfectly smooth 20 foot pan. All because of the amazing light weight of the 5D. This revolution really is a beautiful thing.

Drew Ruggles, I think we go that out of Dallas, they brought the camera car as well. It is the best way to shoot these monsters, you can put the camera anywhere. When the farmer saw this thing swinging all over his combine he was amazed.

Thanks for publishing your experiences on this spot. I’m curious also about the Kowa/5D combo… which focal lengths did you use? Wasn’t an issue covering the 5D sensor with a lens designed for Super 35?

Great article Shane. Thanks so much for sharing this. I’m also a huge believer in problem solving on-site. It was nice to read how you dealt with the constraints of time, budget and shot challenges. Keep up the stellar work. Also, thanks for hitting up San Jose for the Illumination Experience. It was the highlight class of 2014.